Shale gas, a resource found trapped in oil fields, burnt for nothing, is finally being used to power Crypto mining servers. Exxon Mobil – The US-based oil-producing giant has agreed to burn the “extra” 18 million cubic feet of gas per month to power the Crusoe Energy systems Inc.’s Bitcoin mining servers on-site through mobile generators.
The project was initiated in January 2021 and is now consuming 18 million cubic feet of gas per month from the oil well pad in the Bakken Shale basin. This gas would have otherwise been flared just because there aren’t enough gas pipelines near the oilfields.
The lack of pipelines had been halting any plans to make the shale gas resourceful; however, there are updates regarding Exxon planning similar projects in Alaska, Nigeria, Argentina, Guyana, and Germany. These initiatives make one wonder how profitable such projects are for Exxon.
Exxon’s agreement may turn one’s sight towards crypto moving towards using greener energy as previously the mining rings have been using fossil fuels. However, the crypto mining industry has created difficulties for economies such as El Salvador that had to make Bitcoin acceptable as a legal tender for all trades.
Now Exxon is fueling the industry with rampant fraud and possible money laundering; one can only be skeptical about the idea of using greener energy for crypto mining.
Appreciating Exxon Mobil for this agreement would be synonymous with praising an institution for doing its bare minimum. Exxon should have made the shale gas resourceful from the get-go to prevent their expansive oil exploration projects considering the toll oil and gas exploration projects have taken on the environment.
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